Puncturing the myth of frigid family relations, so often lazily repeated in television costume dramas, Mr Gay argues that the overriding tendency in bourgeois Victorian life was towards greater intimacy.

ECONOMIST: Victorian values revisited

These latest findings bear out earlier research, carried out by, amongst others, Pam Meadows for the NAPF, which has all shown that the often-repeated slogan about the increasingly flexible labour market is indeed a myth.

BBC: Peter Thompson's speech